If New York is the city that never sleeps, then Shanghai doesn’t even sit down, and it’s not because there’s no room. The city is explosive in the way it moves; the people, the vehicles, the ideas. Go to Shanghai today and return two months later and the skyline will be more powerful and intimidating, there may be a new bridge linking Pudong and Huangpu, and chances are the city will be pulsating with even more vivacious people than the time before. A link between Eastern and Western, traditional and modern, Shanghai is known as the “Pearl of the Orient,” as anybody walking the eclectic streets can feel the transformation of both the tangible and the intangible taking place on the Eastern coast of China. After the death of Chairman Mao Zedong in 1976, the Communist phrase, “Look to the Future” (“Xiang Qian Kan”), became transformed into “Look to the Money,” because the words for “future” and “money” sound the same but are written differently in Mandarin. The craze for wealth and power are on the minds of each of the 20 million people living in Shanghai, specifically the young, zealous nationalist crowd that is molding Shanghai into a hotbed for both politics and commerce.
It is somewhat recent that students and 20-somethings have become so heavily involved in business and politics in China. Their greed for knowledge and flair for competition has turned this involvement into a race for wealth and power within the growing circle of metropolitan youth. In 2003-2004, there were over 61,000 Chinese students studying at institutions of higher education in America, and there are approximately twice that many studying in Britain alone. The flow of Chinese students into America highlights the ambition of these scholars; they often take their education from the States and return to China where the opportunities for educated, bilingual capitalists are infinite. The exponential growth of skilled laborers and professionals concentrating in cities such as Shanghai is the catalyst for its momentum. There are approximately 120 architecture/urban development joint ventures in China and more than 140 companies among the top 200 architecture firms in the world have set up offices here. Symbols of new-fangled Chinese power such as the Oriental Pearl Tower and Jin Mao Tower loom in the haze of the uber-modern Financial District of Pudong, on the east side of the Huangpu River. There are scores of modern buildings sprouting throughout Shanghai; many of the city’s most traditional places such as the 400 year-old Yuyuan Garden in Old Town are being washed away in a fervent urge to expand and develop the city. And it’s not just Shanghai that is on this trend of exchanging culture for capitalism -- there are over sixty cities throughout China that have over one million people living in them. Officials in Beijing predict that in the next two decades over 300 million Chinese will move to urban areas, thus challenging urban infrastructure and job creation. Watching a city like Shanghai take in hoardes of people and revolutionize the concept of a modern city, it makes me wonder how long the inevitable will take before other locales follow in Shanghai's steps. Of course, the most intriguing part is watching such cities mold some personality of its own as well.
It is somewhat recent that students and 20-somethings have become so heavily involved in business and politics in China. Their greed for knowledge and flair for competition has turned this involvement into a race for wealth and power within the growing circle of metropolitan youth. In 2003-2004, there were over 61,000 Chinese students studying at institutions of higher education in America, and there are approximately twice that many studying in Britain alone. The flow of Chinese students into America highlights the ambition of these scholars; they often take their education from the States and return to China where the opportunities for educated, bilingual capitalists are infinite. The exponential growth of skilled laborers and professionals concentrating in cities such as Shanghai is the catalyst for its momentum. There are approximately 120 architecture/urban development joint ventures in China and more than 140 companies among the top 200 architecture firms in the world have set up offices here. Symbols of new-fangled Chinese power such as the Oriental Pearl Tower and Jin Mao Tower loom in the haze of the uber-modern Financial District of Pudong, on the east side of the Huangpu River. There are scores of modern buildings sprouting throughout Shanghai; many of the city’s most traditional places such as the 400 year-old Yuyuan Garden in Old Town are being washed away in a fervent urge to expand and develop the city. And it’s not just Shanghai that is on this trend of exchanging culture for capitalism -- there are over sixty cities throughout China that have over one million people living in them. Officials in Beijing predict that in the next two decades over 300 million Chinese will move to urban areas, thus challenging urban infrastructure and job creation. Watching a city like Shanghai take in hoardes of people and revolutionize the concept of a modern city, it makes me wonder how long the inevitable will take before other locales follow in Shanghai's steps. Of course, the most intriguing part is watching such cities mold some personality of its own as well.
